JOHN DENVER
BACK HOME AGAIN
(RCA Victor CPL1-0548)
May/1974
Produced by Milton Okun
John Denver - guitar/vocal
John Sommers - guitar/mandolin/banjo/fiddle/vocals
Eric Weissberg - steel/banjo
David Jackson, Richard Kniss - bass
Jim Gordon, Hal Blaine - drums
Jim Connor - banjo/harmonica/vocals
Glen D. Hardin - piano
Buddy Collette - clarinet
Julie Connor - vocals
Arrangements by Lee Holdridge
1.
BACK HOME AGAIN
(John Denver)
« © '74 Cherry Lane Music, ASCAP / Music Of 1091, ASCAP / WB Music, ASCAP »
There's a storm across the valley the clouds are rolling in
The afternoon is heavy on your shoulders
There's a truck out on the forelane a mile or more away
The whining of his wheels just makes it colder
He's an hour away from ridin' on your prayers up in the skies
Ten days on the road are barely gone
There's a fire softly burning supper's on the stove
There's a light in your eyes makes him warm
Hey it's good to be back home again
Sometimes this old farm feels like a long lost friend
Yes and hey it's good to be back home again
There's all the news to tell him how'd you spent your time
What's the latest thing the neighbors say
And your mother called last Friday sunshine made her cry
And felt the baby moved just yesterday
Hey it's good to have you home again yes it is
Sometimes this old farm feels like a long lost friend
Yes and hey it's good to be back home again
Oh the time that I can lay this tired old body down
And feel your fingers feather soft upon me
The kisses that I live for the love that lights my way
The happiness that living with you brings me
It's the sweetest thing I know of just spending time with you
It's the little things that make a house a home
Like a fire softly burning and supper on the stove
The light in your eyes that makes me warm
Hey it's good to be back home again
Sometimes this old farm feels like a long lost friend
Yes and hey it's good to be back home again
Hey it's good to be back home again...
I said it's good to be back home again
**********
2.
ON THE ROAD
(Carl Franzen)
« © '70 Cherry Lane Music, ASCAP / Music Of 1091, ASCAP »
Back in 1958 we drove an old V-8 and when it'd gone a hundred
Though we got out and pushed it a smile
We didn't know who we were we didn't know what we did
We were just on the road
Headin' down from Canada on a gravel road a mile from Montana
Then my daddy read a sign and took us in the wrong direction
I asked my daddy where are we goin' he said we'll just follow our nose
So I look out the window and dreamed I was a cowboy
We didn't know who we were...
Met a girl in a truck cafe fell in love almost right away
Then the Mercury was ready to go I had to leave her
Shoo-be-doo-be-shoo-doo Shoo-be-doo-be-shoo-doo shoo-doo
Go home said the Man in the Moon go home
Go home said the Man in the Moon go home
Because it's gettin' sorta late and I'll soon turn out my light
Go home said the Man in the Moon go home
We didn't know who we were...
We didn't know who we were we didn't know what we did
We were just a ridin on we were just a ridin on the road
**********
3.
GRANDMA'S FEATHER BED
(Jim Connor)
« © '73 Cherry River Music, BMI / Dimensional Songs Of The Knoll, BMI »
When I was a little bitty boy just up off of the floor
We used to go down to Grandma's house every month end or so
Have chicken pie and country ham and homemade butter on the bread
But the best darn thing about Grandma's house was her great big feather bed
It was nine feet high and six feet wide and soft as a downy chick
It was made from the feathers of forty 'leven geese
Took a whole bolt of cloth for the tick
It'd hold eight kids'n four hound dogs and the piggy we stole from the shed
We didn't get much sleep but we had a lot of fun on Grandma's feather bed
After supper we'd sit around the fire and old folks'd spit and chew
Pa would talk about the farm and the war and Granny'd sing a ballad or two
I'd sit and listen and watch the fire till the cobwebs filled my head
Next thing I'd know I'd wake up in the morning
In the middle of the old feather bed
It was nine feet high...
[ banjo ]
Well I love my Ma I love my Pa I love Granny and Grandpa too
I've been fishing with my uncle I rassled with my cousin I even kissed Aunt Lou ooh
But if I ever had to make a choice I guess it oughta be said
Well I'd trade them all plus the gal down the road
For Grandma's feather bed
I'd trade them all plus the gal down the road
It was nine feet high...
We didn't get much sleep but we had a lot of fun on Grandma's feather bed
**********
4.
MATTHEW
(John Denver)
« © '74 Cherry Lane Music, ASCAP / Music Of 1091, ASCAP / WB Music, ASCAP »
I had an uncle name of Matthew was his father's only boy
Born just south of Colby Kansas he was his mother's pride and joy
Yes and joy was just a thing that he was raised on
Love was just a way to live and die
Gold was just a windy Kansas wheatfield
And blue was just the Kansas summer sky
All the stories that he told me back when I was just a lad
All the mem'ries that he gave me all the good times that he had
Growin' up a Kansas farm boy life is mostly having fun
Ridin' on his daddy's shoulders behind a mule beneath the sun
Yes and joy was just a thing...
Well I guess there were some hard times and I'm told some years were lean
They had a storm in '47 a twister came and stripped 'em clean
He lost the farm and lost his family he lost the wheat and lost his home
But he found the family bible a faith as solid as a stone
Yes and joy was just a thing...
And so he came to live at our house and he came to work the land
He came to ease my daddy's burden and he came to be my friend
And so I wrote this down for Matthew and it's for him this song is sung
Ridin' on his daddy's shoulders behind a mule beneath the sun
Yes and joy was just a thing...
Yes and joy was just a thing...
**********
5.
THANK GOD I'M COUNTRY BOY
(John M. Sommers)
« © '74 Cherry Lane Music, ASCAP / Music Of 1091, ASCAP »
Well life's on a farm is kinda laid back
Ain't much an old country boy like me can hack
It's early to rise early in the sack
Thank God I'm a country boy
A simple kind of life never did me no harm
Raisin' me a family and workin' on a farm
My days are all filled with an easy country charm
Thank God I'm a country boy
Well I got me a fine wife I got me old fiddle
When the sun's comin' up I got cakes on the griddle
And life ain't nothin' but a funny funny riddle
Thank God I'm a country boy
When the work's all done and the sun is settin' low
I pull out my fiddle and I rosin' up the bow
But the kids are asleep so I keep it kinda low
Thank God I'm a country boy
I'd play Sally Goodin all day if I could
But the Lord and my wife wouldn't take it very good
So I fiddle when I can and I work when I should
Thank God I'm a country boy
Well I got me a fine wife...
[ fiddle ]
Well I wouldn't trade my life for diamonds or jewels
I never was one of them money hungry fools
I'd rather have my fiddle and my farmin' tools
Thank God I'm a country boy
Yeah city folks drivin' in a black limousine
A lotta sad people think that's mighty keen
Well folks let me tell you exactly what I mean
Thank God I'm a country boy
Well I got me a fine wife...
[ fiddle ]
Well my fiddle was my daddy's till the day he died
And he took me by the hand and held me close to his side
He said live a good life play my fiddle with pride
And thank God you're a country boy
Well my daddy taught me young how to hunt and how to whittle
He taught me how to work and play a tune on the fiddle
He taught me how to love and how to give just a little
And thank God I'm a country boy
Well I got me a fine wife...
[ fiddle ]
**********
6.
MUSIC IS YOU
(John Denver)
« © '74 Cherry Lane Music, ASCAP / Music Of 1091, ASCAP / WB Music, ASCAP »
Music makes pictures and often tells stories
All of it magic and all of it true
And all of this pictures and all of the stories
And all of the magic the music is you
Music makes pictures...
**********
7.
ANNIE'S SONG
(John Denver)
« © '74 Cherry Lane Music, ASCAP / Music Of 1091, ASCAP / WB Music, ASCAP »
You fill up my senses like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses come to me again
Come let me love you let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter let me die in your arms
Let me lay down beside you let me always be with you
Come let me love you come love me again
[ strings ]
Let me give my love to you come let me love you come love me again
You fill up my senses...
**********
8.
IT'S UP TO YOU
(Steve Weisberg)
« © '74 Cherry Lane Music, ASCAP / Music Of 1091, ASCAP »
You can do whatever you want to do wherever you want to go it's up to you
And wouldn't it be fine following your heart playing your own part
You and me out on a farm let the sun be our alarm
Kicking off our shoes doing what we choose
And wouldn't it be fine knowing that you're mine anytime you want to be
I don't want to own you I just want to hold you
I just want to need you
I just like to see you smile and stay for awhile
If the times get rough bein' free might be enough
Keep our feelings warm see us through the storm
Wouldn't it be fine looking back and knowing that we helped each other find
You can do whatever you want to do wherever you want to go it's up to you
And wouldn't it be fine following your heart playing your own part
It's up to you it's up to you
**********
9.
COOL AND GREEN AND SHADY
(John Denver - Joe Henry)
« © '74 Cherry Lane Music, ASCAP / Music Of 1091, ASCAP / WB Music, ASCAP »
Saturday holidays easy afternoons lazy days summer days nothing much to do
Rainy days are better days for hanging out inside
Grainy days and city ways make me wanna hide
Someplace cool and green and shady
Find yourself a piece of grassy ground lay down close your eyes
Find yourself or maybe lose yourself while your free spirit flies
[ clarinet ]
Find yourself a piece of grassy ground...
August skies lullabies promises to keep
Dandelions and twisting vines clover at your feet
Memories of Aspen leaves trembling on the wind
Honeybees and fantasies where to start again
Someplace cool and green and shady
Cool and green and shady cool and green and shady
Cool and green and shady cool and green and shady
**********
10.
ECLIPSE
(John Denver)
« © '74 Cherry Lane Music, ASCAP / Music Of 1091, ASCAP / WB Music, ASCAP »
The sun is slowly fadin' in the western sky
Sometimes it takes forever the day to end
Sometimes it takes a lifetime sometimes I think I'll never see the sun again
There's a heavy smog between me and the mountain
It's enough to make a grown man sit and cry
It's enough to make you wonder it's enough to make the world roll up and die
I think it's kind of interesting the way things get to be
The way the people work with their machines
Serenity's a long time coming to me
In fact I don't believe I know what it means anymore
In the east a shaded moon is hanging lazily
I do believe I saw the old man smile
I do believe I did I do believe he's been laughing all the while
I think it's kind of interesting...
The sun is slowly fadin'...
The sun again the sun again ooh
**********
11.
SWEET SURRENDER
(John Denver)
« © '74 Cherry Lane Music, ASCAP / Music Of 1091, ASCAP / Walt Disney Music, ASCAP »
Lost and alone on some forgotten highway
Traveled by many remembered by few
Looking for something that I can believe in
Looking for something that I'd like to do with my life
There's nothing behind me and nothing that ties me
To something that might have been true yesterday
Tomorrow is open right now it seems
To be more than enough just be here today
I don't know what the future is holding in store
I don't know where I'm going I'm not sure where I've been
There's a spirit that guides me a light that shines for me
My life is worth the living I don't need to see the end
Sweet sweet surrender live live without care
Like a fish in the water like a bird in the air
Sweet sweet surrender...
Lost and alone on some forgotten highway...
Sweet sweet surrender...
Sweet sweet surrender...
Sweet sweet surrender...
Sweet sweet surrender...
Sweet sweet surrender...
Sweet sweet surrender...
**********
12.
THIS OLD GUITAR
(John Denver)
« © '74 Cherry Lane Music, ASCAP / Music Of 1091, ASCAP / WB Music, ASCAP »
This old guitar taught me to sing a love song
It showed me how to laugh and how to cry
It introduced me to some friends of mine and brightened up some days
It helped me make it through some lonely nights
What a friend to have on a cold and lonely night
This old guitar gave me my lovely lady it opened up her eyes and ears to me
It brought us close together and I guess it broke her heart
It opened up the space for us to be
What a lovely place and a lovely space to be
This old guitar gave me my life my living all the things you know I love to do
To serenade the stars that shine from a sunny mountain side
And most of all to sing my songs for you I love to sing my songs for you
Yes I do you know I love to sing my songs for you mhm mhm
**********